A compound action shears of the type contemplated herein is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,187,430, entitled "Shears" which issued on Jun. 8, 1965, to E. M. Wallace, et al. This shears included upper and lower blades pivotally interconnected at their respective rearward portions and being operative in a horizontal plane in combination with upper and lower handles pivotally interconnected at their respective forward portions independent of and forwardly of the point of pivotal interconnection of the blades, and a pintle fixed to each blade and pivotally engaged with the forwardly projecting portion of the handle pivot so that an increased horizontal leverage is exerted intermediate the ends of the cutting blades and simultaneously a transverse force is exerted to increase contact pressure between the blades. The blades are interconnected to provide a trio of force generating pivots bringing the blades together forwardly of the blade pivot. One of the generating pins being in the form of the handle pivot for creating the normal transverse force resulting in creating a normal contacting pressure between the cutting edges.
E. M. Wallace, et al. recognized that as the included angle between the cutting edges increased, the work tends to be thrown or forced out from the blades and that serrated edges on one or both of the blades could be provided with the purpose of offsetting the forces tending to throw the work out from the blade. However, serrating the blades did not solve the problem, since there was only one cutting edge and thus only one cutting blade for severing the work. The cutting edge of the cutting blade also intersecting the edge of the serrated edge of the other blade intermittently causing excessive wear to the serrated edge.